Latest regulation news

Banca Carige’s planned tier two bond, which tides it over until it can raise equity, will present the FIG market with some unusual features. But the unfamiliar intervention from a branch of Italy’s deposit guarantee scheme appears not to have roused the European Commission’s attention with regard to state aid rules.

The Single Resolution Board published a position paper on Brexit on Thursday in which it explained that it would take a "case-by-case" approach with banks that fail to meet the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) as a result of the UK’s departure from the European Union.

The European Commission, on Tuesday, told UK clearing houses and securities depositories to pre-apply to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for recognition, should hard Brexit take place.

Representatives from European Union (EU) member states were debating the role of central banks within the EU on Tuesday, as part of discussions over controversial proposals for a new framework for supervising clearing houses.

European regulators and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority have hit back against what they see as on overly restrictive interpretation of the European PRIIPs rules, intended for structured products. The rules, which came in in January this year, have led some issuers of vanilla bonds to hold back from offering these to retail clients because they were worried about new documents required.

European Union governments have pushed back against the European Commission’s proposed changes to the bloc’s financial regulators, opting to roll back the centralisation of power to independent executive boards.

Holders of HSH Nordbank’s tier one securities have reacted angrily to the German bank’s announcement that it expects to write the instruments down further. Bondholders are also meeting later this month to vote on taking legal action against the bank.

The Single Resolution Board has said that it could introduce ‘bank-specific transition periods’ for bonds that have been issued under English law and would otherwise cease to count towards the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) after Brexit.

The International Capital Market Association’s 12th annual Primary Market Forum spent much of the session focused on fintech, as new issuance platforms and technologies converge on a market which has so far seen little of the electronification that has gripped secondary markets.

From June 2019 a large chunk of debt borrowed by banks from the EU periphery under the European Central Bank’s second Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTRO II) will no longer be considered stable funding. Banks should refinance that debt in the market instead of hoping for another ECB handout.